


Into The Void

by MagnusTesla



Series: Of Monsters & Men [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Body Horror, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Developing Relationship, Eldritch, Eldritch Iruka, Eldritch Monsters, Gods, Horror, M/M, Magic, Mild Gore, No Sex, Not Canon Compliant, Shapeshifting, Tentacles, Void Iruka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:21:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25041583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagnusTesla/pseuds/MagnusTesla
Summary: There had once been a time where humans and the old gods had co-existed peacefully. That was until greed and envy drove the humans to committing an unforgivable act, spilling blood of a god in their quest for power, forever upsetting the harmonious balance and cursing the lands.He stares into the void, into the darkness beyond, both eyes still open and yet he sees nothing. The flame inside the lantern flickers, wavering, and just as he catches sight of a hulking great shadow, visible for a moment with a flash of what must be lightning on the other side, it dies down, almost extinguished.In that moment, as their only light almost fades away, Kakashi feels the air in the room shift, and as he looks up from Naruto’s panicked expression, he comes face to face with too many eyes and too many teeth.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Series: Of Monsters & Men [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814380
Comments: 29
Kudos: 80





	Into The Void

**Author's Note:**

> TW: body horror & gore
> 
> Please mind the tags. Whilst this certainly isn't at the higher end of gore and body horror, this fic does contain those things. It takes place in the paragraph after Kakashi hands Naruto the lantern inside the shrine if you wish to skip it.

He’d known about these woods, known that they were cursed, the magic that had once been bright now turned sour and dark. Kakashi isn’t surprised, though, not when the relationship that was once harmonious between the old gods and humans, had forever been thrown out of balance. Humans had become greedy, their never ending desire and hunger for more power resulting in the death of a god, convinced that his lifeblood held the key to the power they so desperately craved. 

“Kakashi, it’s getting darker,” Naruto says, clutching Kakashi’s hand even tighter.

The sunlight that had been lighting their way is now almost gone, the canopy of the trees so dense that only a few beams of light make it through. 

The further in they go, the darker it becomes, decay all but overtaking the forest, twisting it into something else, something unnatural.

Gnarled, twisted trees and vines narrow their path, as though trying to reach out and grab them, their aura dark and bloodthirsty. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and Kakashi can sense so much hatred and death, the forest having claimed many lives. 

“We’re almost there.” Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi can see how something moves along the forest floor, hiding in the shadows, just waiting for the moment that one of them stumbles, for the moment that they stray from the light of the path even an inch. “Just don’t let go, and keep on the path, okay?”

Naruto nods, pressing in even closer as the last rays of light finally fade away. The shadows come to life all around them, their killing intent so oppressive that it would have driven any normal human to madness and straight into the clutches of death. 

“Can you light this lantern, Naru?” Kakashi asks, grabbing said item swinging from the side of his backpack. He tries not to let panic bleed into his voice, even as the trees start groaning, alive and moving ever closer. “Just like we practiced, take a deep breath and picture the flames inside, moving along your body and out. We only need a small flame, so let your outlet be from the tip of your finger, and point it towards the wick.”

If Naruto is frightened, he doesn’t show it, instead he straightens up and takes a deep breath, his eyes scrunched shut in concentration. When he opens them again they blaze brightly, a deep red, as he focuses a flame to his finger, lighting the wick in a brilliant blaze of fire.

The lurking shadows recede, their screams like wails of pain, as though the very presence of light is poison. The sound echoes around them in all directions, and it isn’t lost on Kakashi how close they came to being taken, like lambs to the slaughter, and there would have been nothing he could have done to stop it.

“Good job,” he praises, giving Naruto’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Do you think you can still walk? It’s not much further now.” 

Naruto doesn’t so much answer as nodding his head, tugging Kakashi forward, clearly determined to keep going even as the tears start falling from his eyes, rolling down his whiskered cheeks.

Part of him wants to tell Naruto that it’s okay, that he doesn’t have to be brave all the time, but Kakashi knows that the small boy wants to prove himself, to show that despite everything he’s been through, he can still be brave. He’s so stubborn and strong willed, just like his mother, Kushina, and the thought of her being betrayed by the people she trusted makes Kakashi’s heart clench painfully, the vision of her torn, bloodied corpse forever burned into his memory. Kakashi won’t let that happen to Naruto, he _refuses_ to let that happen to the boy he considers family, his brother. 

This was why they were making such a dangerous journey, a last desperate attempt at calling for help, though it could result in both their deaths. Still, he had to try, he owed it to Kushina, the only person who had taken him in when a friend’s dying gift had changed him forever. Back then his humanity had all but been erased, the villagers calling him a half-breed, or trying to kill him for the eye that still resides in his skull; the eye of a clan from beyond the void.

An old, wooden shrine comes into view, still standing despite it’s age. It should have fallen into ruin, but the cursed magic had preserved it, which felt at odds with the decay all around. Kakashi can’t help but feel it’s a trap, the building almost welcoming in comparison to the journey through the forest, as though it wants people to go inside, to think they are finally safe.

They had no choice but to go in, though. It was one of the last places he knew of where the barrier between the two worlds was weak, where summoning was still possible.

“Is this the place?” Naruto asks.

“Yeah, we’re here. C’mon, let’s go get started.”

The shoji doors slide open with ease, opening up into the haiden, thick cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. Kakashi holds the lantern up, illuminating the room, only to see recent footprints through the layer of dust and dirt on the floorboards. They lead to opposite end of the haiden and into the honden, disappearing into the darkness. Someone had been here recently, but the footprints didn’t lead back out, and he couldn’t sense anyone within the shrine. 

Kakashi hands the lantern to Naruto, and places a finger in front of his hidden lips, gesturing for Naruto to be quiet. Reaching for the knife on his belt, Kakashi grips the handle, pulling it free from its sheath. Silently he stalks forward, Naruto tucked in behind him as he approaches the honden, opening his red eye to look into the dark for any signs of life. The room is empty, save for the traces of magic he can see with his eye, specks of it suspended in the air as though they were stars amongst the sky. It’s quite beautiful, really, but troubling at the same time. The lingering traces confirm his suspicions— someone else had been here. The answer of where they had gone was answered when he took the lantern from Naruto, the light illuminating the violence that had taken place.

A man, pinned to the wall, his chest and abdomen burst open, the cavity full of what had once been intestines, since turned into blackened vines and fungus, growing out and up the wall, as if reaching for the sunlight that could never touch the cursed place. The man’s face is contorted in what can only be described as absolute horror, and Kakashi’s stomach churns at the sight of more vines escaping from their mouth and eyes, and the way the top of the skull is missing, brain-matter-turned-fungus all but splattered up the wall and onto the ceiling.

The violence spoke of absolute hatred and anger, and as Kakashi turns away from it, the light catches the metal of a ceremonial blade still grasped in the man’s rotting hand, one used to bind and bend the will of a god, to enslave it. 

He got what he deserved, Kakashi thought. It had been because of people like that man that decay had taken so much of the land, the wrath and pain of the old gods spreading like a deadly virus, their magic twisting everything it touched.

Naruto tugs on Kakashi’s sleeve, his voice waivering when he says, “I’m scared.” 

“I know, Naru, but I’m here, ‘kay? I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Promise?” 

“Yeah,” Kakashi says, wiping the small boy’s tears away before he crouches down to link their little fingers together. “Pinky promise.”

Kakashi sets about clearing away old, dead vines from one of the walls, making sure that he has space to draw his sigils. “Right, here goes nothing,” Kakashi mutters to himself, using his blade to cut the end of his index finger, the blood flowing freely as he quickly draws on the wall. With the sigils complete, he places his palms against the wall, chanting an incantation, his blood on the wall glowing brightly until it suddenly fades away.

The ground starts rumbling, and then the wall is parting, splitting open like a cocoon, fleshy red tendrils tearing as it does so, reaching out into the room, towards them both. Kakashi takes a step back, shielding Naruto with his body, even as his brain is telling him to grab the boy and run. 

He stares into the void, into the darkness beyond, both eyes still open and yet he sees nothing. The flame inside the lantern flickers, wavering, and just as he catches sight of a hulking great shadow, visible for a moment with a flash of what must be lightning on the other side, it dies down, almost extinguished.

In that moment, as their only light almost fades away, Kakashi feels the air in the room shift, and as he looks up from Naruto’s panicked expression, he comes face to face with too many eyes and too many teeth. Without being touched, he’s thrown against the wall, held in place by an invisible force. 

“Wait!” he shouts, trying to squirm and break free from the god’s grip. It walks straight past Naruto, its long, black hooded cloak rasping against the wooden floorboards. 

“Why did you summon me? Have you come to try and bind me like the rest of those fools?” the god spits, voice venomous. He steps up closer to Kakashi, smiling, first showing razor sharp teeth, before his mouth widened, as though he could swallow Kakashi whole. The cloak starts to move, coming alive with inky tentacles flaring out, wrapping around Kakashi’s throat.

“No, I… I came to you to take him home,” Kakashi rasps. His head feels heavy, vision swimming, and then he’s abruptly released, crashing to the floor.

“Don’t hurt my brother!” Naruto screams, clutching onto the god’s leg. The lantern has long since been forgotten, dropped in Naruto’s panic, the flame barely hanging on. Darkness threatens to engulf them once again, but with a snap of clawed fingers, the god brings light to the room, small, glowing orbs floating around the room like fireflies. 

Kakashi watches in horror as the tentacles wrap themselves around Naruto, but then the atmosphere changes, anger giving way to something much softer. 

“It’s really you,” the god whispers, his monstrous form shifting, settling into something a little more human, a little kinder. “I thought you’d been killed.”

“How... who are—?” Kakashi starts, only to be cut off.

“My true name cannot be spoken by your tongue, but you may call me Iruka. I knew Kushina before she left our world and settled with a human. She trusted your kind. We all did.” The rest didn’t need to be said. They both knew what had transpired, the death of one of the elder gods breaking a once harmonious existence, one wreaking devastating consequences. 

The tentacles slide away from Naruto, becoming one with the cloak once more. Iruka pushes his hood back, revealing a friendly face, a white scar cutting his nose and cheeks, a stark contrast to the brown of his skin. “Come little one,” he says, holding out a clawed hand, taking Naruto’s hand in his. 

This is it. This is goodbye, and Kakashi can’t stop the tears even if he tried. He watches as they head towards the void, the red tendrils of the doorway outstretched to welcome them home.

Naruto stops, turns around, his eyes now red and pupils slitted, waiting for what, Kakashi isn’t sure.

“Come, you don’t belong in this world,” Iruka says, holding his other hand out. Kakashi takes it without hesitation, knowing that deep down Iruka is right. He hasn’t ever belonged here, not truly, and as he steps into the void with his little brother and a fearsome god by his side, he feels that maybe, just maybe, they could finally be at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> So... Kakashi and Iruka don't get together in this fic, but it leads into a sequel I am currently writing, where we dive further into Iruka's world and learn more about the past (and where they get together).
> 
> Huge thanks and credit to [Kalira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalira/pseuds/Kalira) for being my beta on this fic ♡
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! ♡ I appreciate every single kudos and comment. Let me know your thoughts below! I encourage all comments, even if it's short, keyboard smashing/flailing or emojis.
> 
> Add me on Discord (MagnusTesla#8289) or [Tumblr.](https://magnustesla.tumblr.com/)


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